AUGUST 2001
FSU AND PUBLIC SHARE NEW FACILITIES AT VELLER SEMINOLE GOLF COURSE
Whether you're a young or older golfer, woman or man golfer, business golfer or weekend golfer, golf-career seeker or just a golf lover, courses and the golf industry offer you more opportunities than ever before.
And by late fall Florida State University's Don A. Veller Seminole Golf Course and its new Dave Middleton Golf Complex will be the best example in the Tallahassee area of what's happening with the nation's re-energized interest in golf.
This fall, FSU golf will respond to the spiraling growth and
interest in the sport by offering something for every golf lover.
The FSU Professional Golf Management program, the Seminole Golf
Team and the public will be sharing space in what looks like
the best of private clubs in the new and very public Middleton
Golf Complex.
Here's what's coming:
FSU's golf team will probably reap the benefits from new, state-of-the-art training facilities. The new facilities should lead to more and more future Seminoles following in the footsteps of such top golfers and former Seminoles as Hubert Green, Jane Geddes, Paul Azinger, Colleen Walker, Kenny Knox, Babv Bunkowsky, Jeff Sluman, Lisa Walters and Nolan Henke.
FSU's Professional Golf Management (PGM) program will have a home that rivals the best of the country's 11 university- or college-level programs accredited by the Professional Golf Association of America. FSU's PGM program is also the only program of its kind in Florida.
The Tallahassee public, FSU alumni and other visitors to the area will be able to play an enhanced Veller Seminole Golf Course. Nearly two years ago FSU installed a $550,000, double-row Rainbird irrigation system on the course. Management also installed 11,000 linear feet of cart paths, rebuilt several tees, added a pond and new bathrooms. There will also be a new, 10,000 square-foot putting green that better emulates the course's greens, an upgraded driving range and a pro shop in a first-rate clubhouse setting.
The new building complex is being named in honor of Dave Middleton, an FSU graduate and former Seminole golfer who was the major donor for the project. Veller's name was added to the course itself earlier this year in honor of the former FSU golf and football coach.
Under the guidance of architect Saul Fleischman of Fleischman & Garcia, Tampa, the two-wing Middleton clubhouse structure has plenty of curb appeal. The south wing includes a large pro shop with 1,600 square feet of merchandise display space and the Renegade Grill, an 80-seat sports bar and grill that also features additional seating for 40 on a covered patio. The restaurant is also likely to attract many of the people who work in and around nearby Innovation Park.
"We'll have plenty of televisions and a covered deck overlooking the putting green and the golf course. And the grill will offer food service similar to an Applebee's or Bennigan's," said Tim Melloh, general manager and director of the facility. Melloh is employed by Meadowbrook Golf Group Inc., which has a twenty-year lease with FSU to manage the golf course, clubhouse and restaurant operations. Meadowbrook has more than 100 courses around the country outsourcing to it for golf course-related operations.
The FSU PGM program's two large classrooms on the second floor of the south wing of the complex offer scenic views of the golf course through their large windows. Faculty offices will be located across the hall from the classrooms.
The south-wing second floor joins with the north wing via a suspended walkway that covers a tournament staging area, including scoreboards and other tournament-related items. The "archway" architecture underneath makes both wings of the building seem as one large, attractive brick building, complementing much of the newer architecture on the FSU campus.
The second floor of the complex's north wing will house the locker rooms, training and meeting rooms and coaches' offices for FSU's men's and women's golf teams, with the first floor dedicated to golf-cart and other equipment storage. Another building, just west of the north wing, houses the in-door teaching center and includes three hitting bays for practice during inclement weather and for golf swing analysis.
"We looked at the golf programs at Arizona State and Oklahoma," said Bernie Waxman, FSU's assistant athletic director in charge of facilities. "And we believe our facilities will be among the best in the country." The hitting bays will be equipped with the best of computerized, video and other sophisticated golf analysis equipment.
The 18th hole of the golf course is being relocated to make
way for an expanded range-practice facility for the golf teams
that will be state-of-the art in every way. Seminole golfers
will have two large new putting greens featuring the new ultra-dwarf
grasses and chipping areas and fairway and greenside practice
bunkers. The teams' driving range will have two sets of tee boxes
and built-in target greens with pins and traps. The attention
to detail is remarkable and will create an almost perfect simulation
of actual course conditions.
- Franklin D. Murphy, president, FSU Communications Group
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